THE INVADERS

Terry Nation’s original plans for his 1964 serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth included a new companion for the Doctor and an intriguing visit to the forecourt of Television Centre...

Terry Nation in 1964, with a Dalek novel and annual inspired by his creations. He wrote episodes of The Dalek Invasion of Earth at weekends, between more lucrative assignments for The Saint.

On Thursday 12 March 1964, Television Today carried the following intriguing tidbit in its close-packed columns: ‘There is obviously a danger in becoming too closely identified with a character in a television serial, particularly when that character is a child.

Miss [Carole Ann] Ford recognises this, and much as she enjoys the variety which the serial offers, she will leave the cast in October, when her year’s contract expires.’

Seventeen episodes into Doctor Who’s 52-week run, and this was how the break-up of the original cast – via the impending disappearance of Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter – was announced to the television trade. Five days later, Terry Nation was commissioned to write scripts for another six-part Doctor Who serial. In the wake of the Daleks’ phenomenal success across the Christmas and New Year period, his talents were much in demand. His next assignment for BBC TV’s big new Saturday show would be a rematch between the Doctor and the Daleks, offsetting the show’s first major location shoot with frugal reuse of existing props and sets.

“THEDR WHOSCRIPTS BECAME MY SATURDAY JOB. THEY WERE WRITTEN ONE A WEEK, EACH SATURDAY.” TERRY NATION

“The Dr Who scripts became my Saturday job. They were written one a week, each Saturday,” recalled Nation in the Radio Times’ lavish 1973 Doctor Who special. The Welsh writer was now busy on more adult commissions, ranging from plays for the gestating BBC2 and ABC’s Armchair Mystery Theatre through to adaptations of Leslie Charteris stories for ATV’s The Saint. Following a storyline referred to as The Return of the Daleks, Nation’s new Dalek scripts were developed to a deadline of Friday 19 June and delivered with the cover legend: ‘The Invaders – A television play in six parts for the Dr Who series’.

About Doctor Who Magazine

This essential guide celebrates Doctor Who’s most renowned invasion episodes.
Interviewees include Anna Barry (Day of the Daleks), Ray Brooks (Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), Johnny Byrne (Warriors of the Deep), Michael Ferguson (The Seeds of Death), Peter Harness (The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion), Douglas Mackinnon (Flatline), Victor Pemberton (Fury from the Deep), Toby Whithouse (The Vampires of Venice) and Jon Davey (Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel).
Plus, there are rare images, a tribute to Nicholas Courtney, Terry Nation’s original storyline for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, details of Jon Pertwee's unmade story The Spare-Part People and much more!